Profit Selling Enterprise Search

There's a reason Google hired a Novell executive -- and not someone from the media world -- to be its CEO back in 2001. The ad market was dead and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin thought the best way for the startup to make money would be to license its search technology to third-parties and enterprise clients.

In 2001, CNET reported, "Under Schmidt's leadership, Google will likely improve the intelligence of its technology and broaden its license customers, analysts say."

We have a lot of customers in pharmaceutical, technology, consumer goods, financial services, manufacturing, media companies. We sell a lot to the federal government. Anywhere they're generating a lot of Web pages or content and need to help people get access to them, it's a good fit.

Will it ever happen? No. Google still sells its search appliances and the "Google Mini" to the small and large businesses, but Google makes 99% of its revenues from search advertising.